This invention relates generally to containers for packing and shipping semiconductor integrated circuits and more particularly, it relates to a tray of a unique construction adapted for especially packing and shipping a plurality of PCMCIA cards in a vertical side-by-side arrangement.
In recent years, there have been made advances in the semiconductor packaging technology for semiconductor memory integrated circuit devices. One type of memory integrated circuit device which is housed in a generally rectangularly-shaped package is referred to as a PCMCIA (an acronym for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) card. The PCMCIA card may typically have a width dimension of about 2.125 inches, a length dimension of about 3.375 inches, and a thickness of approximately 0.125 inches. In view of this, there has arisen a need for a carrier or container for housing and/or shipping a relatively large number of these PCMCIA cards from a PCMCIA card manufacturer's location to a customer's site for subsequent use in a manufacturing process and/or equipment.
Due to the fact that these PCMCIA cards are susceptible not only to possible physical damage during the handling and shipping but as well as to destruction caused by electrostatic discharge (ESD), the containers must be able to render a certain degree of protection for these sensitive PCMCIA cards to be transported therein. At the present time, the prior art solution to these problems has involved the use of a plastic Jewel case for holding a single or individual PCMCIA card therein. For instance, there is depicted in FIG. 1 and labeled as "Prior Art" a carrier 110 of a generally rectangular configuration for housing a single PCMCIA card. The carrier 110 is shown in the "open" position and consists of a box-like shell 112 and a cover 114 hingedly connected at its rear to the box-like shell 112.
However, this prior art Jewel case 110 suffers from the disadvantage of being a very time-consuming task for loading and packing the individual PCMCIA cards therein. Further, the use of an individual plastic Jewel case 110 for each PCMCIA card increases substantially the materials cost as well as the assembly and labor costs. In addition, the plastic Jewel case 110 is not very practical to use in relationship with other manufacturing processes and/or equipment, such as a "pick and place" mechanism for performing the function of picking up the individual PCMCIA card from the Jewel case 110 and placing it in another location for testing and/or inspection.
Currently, the inventor is unaware of the use of a cost effective carrier or productive methodology for packing PCMCIA cards in the industry. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a tray member of a rectangular construction adapted for especially packing and shipping of a plurality of PCMCIA cards in a vertical side-by-side arrangement. Further, it would be expedient to provide a PCMCIA card tray member which can be made relatively inexpensively and which is compatible for use with other manufacturing processes and/or equipment for sequential production operations.